The Curiosity Index (23.12.2018)

I have spent the whole of 2018 with a key focus in my mind as much as my health journey with a blood cancer has allowed. A single goal. Which I expressed at the beginning of the 2018 as my only New Year’s Resolution:

To look more closely at the commands of Jesus. And to learn to obey them.

I cannot think of a better resolution to continue into 2019 with. And thanks to the glorious grace-filled message of these particular commands, I can come back to him once again and look forward with hope. I may have failed him many times this past year. But he has never failed me. And his ways are the best for me. And the more I know him, the more my life will improve, and the better person I become.

Christmas can be a difficult and oft depressing time for many people. Christians who struggle with depression find the exhortation to joy harder still. In this interview my friend Mark Meynell discusses his own depression and the book he wrote about it.

For those with mental health challenges (or, as I put it in the book, those who live in the cave of depression), I long for them to know from reading this that they’re not alone in the cave, that there is solace and hope even from that.

For those outside the cave, I would hope there is a much greater willingness to appreciate the mysteries of this pain and therefore to be patient and gentle with those inside it, above by being careful about the things we say.

Does this demonstrate China’s stunning progress or Africa’s stunning lack of progress or both?

Maps of GDP per capita in Africa vs. China. In 1980 only two African countries had a lower GDP per capita than China (Guinea-Bissau and Uganda). In 2016 it's a whole different story: only Equatorial Guinea and Seychelles (not visible on this map) had a higher GDP per capita. pic.twitter.com/GJCIMoGUNy